Enjoying & understanding semiprecious gemstone jewelry

More reasons to love semiprecious gemstones

Semiprecious gemstones are beautiful and varied displayed on their own. But their beauty can also be enhanced and their value increased accompanied with various beads and shells as accents.

Beads, if it can be molded, drilled, or carved, people have made beads out of bone, wood, metal, shells, clay, glass, paper and fabric. Traditionally, the most popular beads used when crafting semiprecious gemstone jewelry are seed beads, however, in the last 10 years fabric beads have been popular. Fabric beads are usually crafted using soft fabric, and the recent popularity of their use might be because it’s highly unlikely that the semiprecious gemstones would be scratched when crafted together. Seed beads are small or tiny glass beads, available in a variety of finishes, including metallic and matte, in all colors of the color spectrum, and in various shapes.

There are other variety of beads, including “bugle beads,” which are long, narrow tube beads. Beads known as “cut beads” are faceted beads with multi-facets on the surface of the bead. “Delica beads” are cylindrical beads that are almost square in shape. “Miyuki” seed beads are tiny handcrafted glass beads used typically with smaller, more expensive semiprecious gemstones. Many “less dense” semiprecious gemstones, such as small quartz crystals are also handcrafted with beads and shells.

Mollusk shell beads are salvage material from the cultured pearl industry. They include coconut shell beads, freeform everlasting shell beads, black lip shell beads, and mother-of-pearl shell beads, just to name a few. The iridescent mother-of-pearl shell bead originates in the hard internal layer of the sea mollusk that produces pearls; the natural color is a creamy, iridescent champagne, and is believed by many to bring prosperity. The black-lip oyster shell bead is native to the shallow coastal regions of Southern China and the Philippines, where the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean converge. Its iridescent colors range from light grey to black, with a rainbow sheen of silver to pale pink or green. These eco-friendly shell beads resonate and accent beautifully with many semiprecious gemstones, including Quartz crystal gemstones, aquamarine gemstones, and sodalite gemstones.